Book Reviews, Living in France, my author news...

It’s Halloween Season and don’t-ya just love the ghouls, the pumpkins, the screams of mock-terror, the kids in their top-to-toe, trick-or-treat disguises? I do.Well, here’s your Halloween treat because it’s time for #2 of 10 New Authors of Colour.

Today, I’m interviewing V.M. Sawh, author of Cinders. Cinders is a perfect, dark pick.​Read on to find out more.

Cinders by V.M. Sawh

ASIN B00GW8G990

Book Description

As a slave in the bawdy Black House, Rella longs to escape the whips and chains of her existence. When she is chosen for a dangerous mission and offered a chance at freedom, Rella knows she has to take it.

Armed with a secret weapon, Rella must infiltrate the Grand Ball and come face-to-face with the true price of her salvation.​Cinders (Good Tales for Bad Dreams) is part of a short-fiction series of re-imagined fairy tales. Each story is set in a different time and place.

So strip bare your assumptions, open your mind and take a walk on the dark side of make believe.

Ann Girdharry’s View

There’s a wicked sense of humour in this dark re-telling which takes us a million miles from the original ‘Cinderella’, to a place of violence (and sex), where choices have to be made for your own survival. V.M keeps the style and tone of a fairy tale whilst conveying a story which is something utterly different.

What I liked was the way the author kept it dark and yet, the reader knows the hidden heart to the story, and understands Cinders as a young woman with a slim chance. There’s a battle of values here, of who we are or what we want to be. There’s also great writing with rich descriptions.

This is for those who like dark, mature themes, with a clever touch. The raw creativity needed to create such an original tale makes me look forward to a full length novel from V.M. Sawh.

​Five Things You Didn’t Know about V.M. Sawh

Photoshot V.M.Sawh

1. Born in Guyana, I came to Canada during the big snowstorm of 1993, one day after my 9th birthday. I felt caught between the world I'd left behind and my new role as an immigrant, and discovered unexpected differences between the Indian culture I thought I knew and the Indo-Canadian experience. I sought to forge a new identity as I grew up - one free from culture politics and the social pressures that came with colour-based labels.

2. I crafted 3 novels by age 16 and was courted by a publisher while still in high school. To my everlasting regret, I doubted myself and chose to forgo my dream of publishing. Instead, I finished high school a year early, got a job and paid my own way through university.

3. I fulfilled a life-long dream when I drove to the top of Mount Haleakalā, a 10,000 foot volcano, white-knuckling it on both ascent & descent, in a silver Dodge Challenger nicknamed "Luna". With no guardrails on that mountain road, a single slip of the wheel meant instant death. Once I reached the peak, I was able to watch the sunset above the clouds and laid eyes on the Silversword - a metallic flowering cactus that only grows in the Mars-like crater at the top.

4. As a die-hard fan of monster movies, I was overjoyed to meet my long-time hero - director Guillermo del Toro (of Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth & Pacific Rim fame) in person. Del Toro was so disheartened by lack of studio support for Hellboy 3 that he wondered aloud if he should stop making movies. Seeing him losing hope, I told del Toro "You are living the dream of so many of us, who long to create art the way you do. Please don't give up." He promised me that he would never quit.

5. A life-long lover of martial arts, I studied Karate in South America and Canada, eventually gaining my Black Belt as a teenager and going on to teach. I learned the value of fair play during regional competition when my sensei asked me to throw the fight against my opponent - a celebrated rival from a sister school - due to racial & political implications. I gave in and settled for the Bronze. After being injured a year later, I was forced to retire from active competition. Now I feed my passion by dissecting fight choreography in martial arts movies.